Israeli Soldiers Turn Blind Eye to 'Settler' Violence Against Palestinians in West Bank
October 7 attack has led to major increase in violence in West Bank, which is not under Hamas control
Palestinians in the West Bank have reported a major increase in Jewish “settler” violence after the 7 October Hamas attack, and Israeli forces, who are supposed to protect them, have turned a blind eye.
Dov Sedaka, a reserve Israeli general who works for a group that supports Israeli-Palestinian cooperation, told The New York Times that the news settler strategy is: “We are here, this land belongs to us and we will kick you off it, with all the means we have.”
“They’re not stopping the extremist settlers,” he said of the Israeli forces. “They’re closing their eyes.”
U.S. President Joe Biden last week urged Israeli settlers in the occupied territories in Israel to stop as Israel continues to starve out and bomb Palestinians in Gaza.
“It has to stop,” Biden said. “They have to be held accountable. It has to stop now.”
Biden said “extremist settlers” are “pouring gasoline on the fire.”
Al Jazeera noted that these attacks have been increasing for months—even before the 7 October attack by Hamas.
The report noted that Israeli forces have carried out mass arrests inside the West Bank, which has been under Israeli military rule since the 1967 Mideast war. The Associated Press reported that these Palestinians must abide by the Israeli military’s justice system. It is worth noting that Hamas does not control the West Bank.
Axios, citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health, reported that more than 120 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the war. The report said there are about three million Palestinians and 450,000 “settlers” there.
The Times’s report said: “According to witness statements, video footage and analysts who have examined larger patterns of the violence, settler extremists in the West Bank have been attacking Palestinian homes and businesses, blowing up their generators and solar panels, burning down the tents of seminomadic Bedouin herders — and even shooting people.”
The Times of Israel reported on Wednesday that “dozens of pictures and videoclips have emerged over the past week showing IDF soldiers abusing and humiliating Palestinians apprehended in the West Bank, often while they are blindfolded and handcuffed.”